How to Use bebop in a Sentence
bebop
noun-
Reno places a speaker on the table and plays bebop.
—Christopher Borrelli, Chicago Tribune, 20 Aug. 2025
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His images are inspired by the sounds of bebop, jazz and swing music.
—New York Times, 7 July 2021
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Wake of the Flood, the jazz and bebop-influenced record.
—Shania Russell, Entertainment Weekly, 3 Nov. 2025
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The goal was to move beyond bebop to something cooler.
—Mike Snider, USA Today, 26 May 2026
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Minton’s was the birthplace of bebop; a fire closed it in 1974.
—Hannah Goldfield, The New Yorker, 26 Oct. 2020
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The drummer explored a range of musical styles, from swing and bebop to jazz fusion and avant-garde jazz.
—Edward Segarra, USA TODAY, 13 Nov. 2024
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The main genre here is jazz—anything from bebop and contemporary jazz to Latin jazz and big bands.
—Carrie Hutchinson, Condé Nast Traveler, 10 Sep. 2018
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His playing in the swing period pointed the way towards bebop.
—USA Today, 22 Feb. 2021
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This is a virtual concert of cool jazz, island music, swing, bebop, Latin jazz, smooth jazz and vocals.
—courant.com, 31 Dec. 2020
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Once inside, the daylight gleaming in from the windows and bebop coming from the shop speakers cast me in my element.
—Miguel Otárola, Denver Post, 30 Mar. 2026
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Old time, gospel, the drive and sophistication of bebop and western swing all get jumbled together.
—John Adamian, courant.com, 11 Oct. 2019
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Songs were influenced by improvisational and bebop jazz, as well as gospel.
—Jenny Adams, CNN Money, 5 Oct. 2025
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So after some straight-ahead bebop from the University of New Orleans jazz band (their name?
—Natalie Weiner, Billboard, 6 May 2017
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And Oscar had one foot steeped in the pre-1940s stride piano tradition, and the other in bebop and swing.
—George Varga, sandiegouniontribune.com, 17 Feb. 2018
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Indeed, a trailer of the game resembles the old-timey animations of the past, featuring a spastic bebop-style jazz score.
—Jonathan Vanian, Fortune, 29 Sep. 2017
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Listening to a lot of bebop — Eddie Jefferson- and Jon Hendricks-type stuff.
—Timothy Finn, kansascity, 18 Dec. 2017
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There’s very little familiar jazz rhythm, whether New Orleans style two-beat, big-band era 4/4 or faster bebop tempo.
—Will Friedwald, WSJ, 27 June 2018
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Led by award-winning guitarist Roland Balogh, the Finuccis soar whether playing fusion or bebop.
—George Varga, sandiegouniontribune.com, 11 May 2017
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Whether playing ballads, blues or bebop, his twists and turns of melody and constant rhythmic variety pointed to a musician working very much in the moment.
—Howard Reich, chicagotribune.com, 5 May 2017
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By the time Adjuah was 13, the local musicians were buzzing about the kid who had mastered the complexity of bebop.
—USA Today, 22 Feb. 2021
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Throughout his seven-decade career, Jones dabbled in big-band jazz, bebop, gospel, blues, soul, funk, quiet storm R&B, disco, rock, and rap.
—Kalia Richardson, Rolling Stone, 5 Nov. 2024
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The list of notables the Showcase has presented over the years could fill a book — though the club’s North Star was always Segal’s beloved bebop.
—Hannah Edgar, Chicago Tribune, 27 Apr. 2026
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The biopic will highlight the creative genius of Basquiat, whose life, like his art, was vivid, complex, and punctuated by the influence of jazz, bebop, and hip-hop’s formative years.
—Okla Jones, Essence, 5 Jan. 2022
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Breaking with jazz orthodoxy in the mid-’40s, Charlie Parker pioneered bebop and helped clear the terrain jazz would explore for the next few decades.
—Keith Phipps, Vulture, 22 Sep. 2021
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One evening the entertainment offered in the lobby was a screening of a Buddy Holly film, a biopic with bebop music, soft entertainment.
—Aaron Gilbreath, Longreads, 8 Sep. 2017
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Gutsy hard bop, an alliance of bebop and bluesy roots influences, was brewing in the seminal bands of Art Blakey and Horace Silver.
—Mark Stryker, Detroit Free Press, 30 June 2019
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As bebop waned and funk and rock music arrived, the 1970s and early ’80s witnessed a shift, not only in sound but also in the way onlookers behaved.
—Jenny Adams, CNN Money, 5 Oct. 2025
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Though many pretend otherwise, the once revolutionary sounds of the free jazz movement have shifted into their own form of orthodoxy, just like swing, bebop, and everything that preceded it.
—Levi Dayan, Pitchfork, 11 May 2026
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America’s great indigenous art had evolved from the exuberant transgressions of the 1920s to the danceable rhythms of the swing era to the prickly cubism of bebop.
—James Kaplan, The Atlantic, 6 Mar. 2024
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Minton’s in Harlem was where jazz musicians, from out-of-towners to locals performing in nearby big band theaters in Harlem, sought refuge during late-night jam sessions and a new genre, bebop, was born.
—Mia Jackson, New York Times, 5 Jan. 2024
Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'bebop.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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